Software makes computing machines powerful. Such machines can correct the irregular rhythm of a person's defective heart or let people reach for the constellations of the heavens. Yet, software is vulnerable to something as simple as accidental mischief or intentional harm. Accidental mischief may innocently come from a child who somehow gains access to his parents' personal computer, causing physical loss of data or changing settings that are detrimental to the use of the computing machine, among other examples. Intentional harm is typically instigated by a “hacker,” which is a dysphemism for a person who uses computing expertise for illicit ends, such as by causing malicious software to execute on computing machines or directly gaining access to computing machines without permission and tampering with programs and data.
Operating systems are software that controls the allocation and usage of computing machine resources such as memory, central processing unit (CPU) time, disk space, and peripheral devices. The operating system is the foundation software on which applications depend. Popular operating systems include Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows XP, Mac OS, UNIX, and Linux. Operating systems are sometimes packaged in a way that is appropriate for a particular market. For example, a powerful operating system used for the small niche server market can be retrofitted by the software manufacturer in various ways that are appropriate for novice users in the large general consumer market. One problem is that novice users may inadvertently modify the retrofitted operating system, thereby crippling it. The most pernicious problem of all, however, is that hackers can reverse engineer the retrofitted operating system so as to transform it for use for other illicit purposes to the detriment of the software manufacturer. FIG. 1 illustrates this problem and other problems in greater detail.
A software image 108 represents a duplicate or copy of an operating system containing instructions that make computer hardware work. A hacker or his malicious software 102 can modify the software image 108 or cause it to be easily replaced because the software image 108 is typically a file stored somewhere in the computer hardware. The next time users 110 invoke the software image to run system software, such as the operating system, the modified or supplanted software image is run instead of the original provided by the software manufacturer.
The tampering of the software image 108 is typically carried out by hackers or pieces of malicious software 102, but rarely by users 110. However, a registry 106 can be unintentionally tampered with by the users 110, as well as by hackers or pieces of malicious software 102. The registry 106 is a piece of system software used to store information that can be employed to configure the system for one or more users, applications, and hardware devices. For example, the registry could be used to enable three dimensional rendering and hardware acceleration support for consumer computing machines while disabling those same features for server computing machines.
These pieces of information can be changed when users 110 act with administrative permission, or by hackers or pieces of malicious software 102 that improperly obtain permission to modify the registry. Hackers and pieces of malicious software 102 can attempt to manipulate the registry 106 to overcome licensing restrictions so as to change information in the registry, registry settings, and unlock additional features that were not meant for a particular audience or marketing channel. One issue is that modification of the registry may cause the computing machine to stop working or to exhibit unpredictable behaviors.
Another problem involves tampering with executing software 104. Hackers, or pieces of malicious software 102, can improperly jettison properly executing software 104 and supplant it with unauthorized or prohibited software services. Moreover, hackers or pieces of malicious software 102 can emulate software responses or software calls and tamper with the running of the executing software 104.
Given the problems of software tampering, both by accidental mischief or intentional harm, it will come as no surprise that unscrupulous hackers and their malicious software can cause software to be vulnerable. Without a resolution to the problem of software tampering, users may eventually no longer trust computer manufacturers to provide a secure computing experience while preventing access by unauthorized individuals. Thus, there is a need for a system, method, and computer-readable medium for securing software while avoiding or reducing the above problems associated with existing systems.